[CITIZENS' Mail - (14-03-2017)]

Refugee nightmare for the USA

The 43rd President of the USA (George W Bush Jnr) launched wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), which caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties opening up the floodgates of refugees to inundate certain countries of Europe. The wars he launched were fake, to use the favourite word of President Trump. The Arab Spring and the search for WMD were all concocted lies by the US, to upset the equilibrium in the mid-east. Bush saw to it that 2.5 million US military personnel were involved since 2001. Of these, 6,896 were killed in action, and more than 50,000 injured, according to data released by the Defence Department.

After the debacle in Afghanistan and Iraq, the USA interfered in Syria (having laid low Egypt and Libya) supporting anti-government groups calling them freedom fighters, thereby getting involved in a three cornered war which included the ISIS as well. The ISIS also came into being because the US brought down like nine pins, the strong dictators of the mid-east, who somehow kept the peace in the region. The citizens of these countries now believe that they were much safer and happier under the dictators, rather than the political mess they are in today, which has triggered an exodus of refugees to Europe, bringing them untold grief and unexpected anxiety to the host countries.

The USA is at the bottom of this huge problem of devastation, death, carnage, the ISIS and the refugees. Therefore the burden of taking care of the refugees (those unfortunates displaced by never ending wars) is squarely on the USA. It is one thing for President Trump to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants to the US; he is correct to guard the borders of his country from criminals and unwanted people from other countries who want a piece of the pie, as it were.

But the hoards of refugees of wars covertly or overtly backed by the USA, must be taken in by the USA, to compensate them for the loss of property, identity and peace of mind.

The USA made the bed, so it had better lie on it.

Vineetha Gunasekera

Via email